The BlackBerry 9800 Slider Slips Through The FCC Ahead Of Today's Announcement

The upcoming 9800’s existence isn’t that much of a secret even though its announcement isn’t slated until later today. The FCC are the first people to play with the phone and recently gave it their stamp of approval. While we can’t get a good look at the phone’s front, the FCC filing did reveal the slider will support a 480×320 touchscreen with a physical keyboard located underneath — the first hybrid phone of RIM’s two product lines. Expect 850MHz and 1,900MHz 3G bands along with 802.11n WiFi. Everything else, like form factor and pretty press shots, will have to wait until later today. [FCC via Engadget]